Course syllabus for Sustainable development for civil engineers

Course syllabus adopted 2021-02-26 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameHållbar utveckling för samhällsbyggare
  • CodeBOM280
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTKSAM
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyCivil and Environmental Engineering
  • ThemeEnvironment 6 c
  • DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 58115
  • Maximum participants40
  • Minimum participants8
  • Block schedule
  • Open for exchange studentsYes

Credit distribution

0117 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		 7.5 c

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

A Bachelor's degree in Art, Science and Engineering or relevant discipline is required. In addition, basic courses in Environmental Science and Environmental engineering are recommended.

Aim

The course will give an in-depth insight into what sustainable development is and how it relates to the professional role of the civil engineer. Students will gain knowledge about concepts such as strong and weak sustainability, important ethical considerations and lines of critique surrounding them. Furthermore, students will acquire basic knowledge in environmental economics, ecosystem services and cost-benefit analysis, all framed in a civil engineering context that will give them opportunity to implement the acquired knowledge in their future roles in the society. The course include a case study, which require students to apply introduced theoretical concepts and tools in practice.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

After completing the course, the student should be able to: Explain what strong and weak sustainability means in theory and practice Explain important ethical issues related to sustainable development across several dimensions Describe the most important commonly occurring criticisms of sustainable development Describe important concepts in the environmental economy, which instruments exist and how to manage common resources Apply the concept of ecosystem services to be able to identify and describe examples Describe the most common methods for valuating ecosystem services and be able to apply and give concrete examples Apply in the course introduced concepts and tools for analyzing and evaluating challenges in civil engineering from a sustainability perspective

Content

The course is divided into six themes: Theoretical foundations, ethics and criticism for sustainable development Summary resource theory and circular economy Environmental economy, valuation and recovery effects Actors and negotiations Sustainable construction and housing Sustainable resource management from a civil engineering perspective Each theme includes one or several digital resources, such as video lectures which are available throughout the course. A larger project will be conducted in the form of group work with applied focus.

Organisation

The course consists of the following learning activities: Students use the digital material that belong to respective topic to prepare for subsequent seminar where learning takes place through discussions, role plays and workshops. The course includes an assignment in the form of individual project, in which students may choose an area to specialize in and develop in a written report. The course also includes an assignment in the form of a project performed in groups. The project will result in a written report which is presented to the class in a seminar. The project will have an applied focus on sustainability issues in civil engineering.

Examination including compulsory elements

The final grade will be based  on the individual assignment (40%) and the group work, including presentation and feedback (60%). The final grade will be recorded as fail, 3, 4 or 5.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.